


january, below freezing

by HorribleThing



Category: Homestuck
Genre: F/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2014-10-21
Updated: 2014-10-21
Packaged: 2018-02-22 02:12:24
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 617
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/2490659
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/HorribleThing/pseuds/HorribleThing
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>He never feels warm enough lately.</p>
<p>(Dave and Jade and midwestern winter.)</p>
            </blockquote>





	january, below freezing

**Author's Note:**

> Written for HSWC 2014.

He wonders sometimes why he chose to go to college in the midwest. More than sometimes, every time he steps outside, every time he gets dressed in the morning with a long sleeved thermal undershirt and a button down and a wool sweater and fucking long underwear under his pants and three pairs of socks. He had to buy layers he didn't even know existed, coats in weights he thought you'd only need if you were climbing mountains and praying not to lose your extremities to frost bite.  
  
He never feels warm enough lately. He can never get warm enough lately.  
  
Jade had gone out walking on the lake before she had come to see him and her face is pink with cold, like some old ad of a kid enjoying good clean fun out in the snow. But she slips her fingers, frozen despite having worn gloves and glove liners, under the hem of his shirt and he's screeching because jesus christ they are like little daggers of ice. All attempts to get away from her fail, so he puts up with it, puts up with the little trails of cold running over his stomach and his spine. Puts up with her breath against his chest and her stifled giggles and the dampness of coat seeping through his shirt.  
  
“Damn, Jade. You're lucky you're so cute because otherwise there is no way I would let you leech heat off of me out in the common room. But you are a top tier hottie so I guess I'll let you get handsy in public for the sake of my reputation. I can already hear the rumors spreading about the grade A babe I'm taking back to my room-”  
  
She swats him then, pulling her hands away and rolling her eyes. His skin still has goosebumps where her fingers were, and he can't tell if he was colder then or colder now that she's not touching him.  
  
Later, the snow melts off of her boots in the entrance to his dorm room and her coat and scarf and gloves are drying over the horrible radiator that makes awful noises like a demon from hell.  
  
Later, Jade heads up with him into his loft bed.   
  
It's the only place to sleep.  
  
The space is small and dark, lit up only by the glow of the city lights through the blinds. When he's on his own the full sized mattress feels enormous compared to the twin bed that he grew up with, but with Jade there he suddenly becomes aware of how long his limbs are and how awkward that is and the sound of his own breath practically echoing around him.  
  
“It's so fucking ridiculous here. I cannot even believe the weather. This is some real “The Day After Tomorrow” shit right now. Roland Emmerich called and he wants his frozen city back-”  
  
“Dave, what are you even talking about?” In the dark her can hear her huff of exasperation.  
  
“I'm cold,” he tells her and for a moment he feels like he's thirteen again.  
  
He feels Jade press against his back, her arms wrapping around him. The heat of her seeps through the cheap cotton of his teeshirt. Her breath is on him again and she smells like honey and oranges and a little bit like wet wool. Jade squeezes him, nuzzles against the back of his neck, and he's never wanted anything more. Never wanted anything less.  
  
“Better?”  
  
“Yeah.”  
  
Jade's toes brush up against his ankles, her legs intwined with his own.   
  
  
  
In the morning, she'll leave to see her boyfriend and he'll be left with clothes that smell like her and a room that's too cold.


End file.
